Check all things DATE NIGHT on Bex Soap Box
Friday, December 20th: Temple date night in Logan! Allen had to stay late and work a couple nights this week, so he was able to come home at noon so we could drive to Logan. We had such a lovely time at the temple--one of the best times, in fact. We went out for Chinese at Mandarin Garden, then hit some stores for last-minute gifts. We were home at 10 PM, which beats getting home after midnight. It was a beautiful drive with my favorite guy.
Saturday, November 30th: Game night with the Tormans and Smiths. PLUS DINNER. Meg did it all! Cooked dinner and dessert, bought fun games to play, and invited us up. It was so fun. First we played a game where you have to name the singer/song/band just by hearing one line of the song, which was super fun. Then the Smiths taught us how to play Cover your assets, which was also a blast. Allen played the surprise play of the night!
Wednesday, November 20th: Pocatello date night. We bought ALL THE FLOORING for the main floor of our house. And a big beautiful navy-and-cream rug. And we ate at my favorite place, Cafe Rio. I love date night.
Saturday, November 16th: I got home from a three-day trip, so we needed some alone time! Date night at El Toro to the rescue, then home for a movie to the rescue! Sometimes the standard dates are the best ones.
Saturday, November 9th: NO date night this week, but a fun family/youth trip to SLC. We stayed at Cori's with all the young men and young women in our ward and took them to the temple. It was fun on the drive home with just our kids--we went to In n' Out burger and Scheel's. Our kids are good ones.
Thursday, October 31st: Allen came home early to rescue me from drowning in a sea of obligation and overwhelmedness. He brought Diet Cokes and cleaned the house. He is my biggest blessing.
Friday, October 25th: Pocatello date night at Red Lobster and Home Depot. Rich met us to talk about what kind of flooring to get for our house. It was a lovely time with him and the kids--then we picked up groceries and crickets (of course), and went to see Will Smith in the movie, Gemini Man. It was pretty good, but ended kind of lamely.
Thursday, October 17th: Temple + Sushi Date in Logan. The bessssssssssssst.
Saturday, October 12th: Stake conference date night!
Thursday, September 26th: Three dates this week? Yes, please. First, we hiked S hill, then we went on a fun bike ride along the railroad tracks in a part of town we have never been before. Also, it was the most glorious sunset of 2019.
Wednesday, September 25th: Homecoming Parade Date! Allen came home for lunch and we walked to the parade together to see Truman in the homecoming nominee float, and Brigham with the cross county team. We went by the elementary school and Calvin was so excited to wave to us! It was a fun date with my sweetie.
Monday, September 23rd: Date bike to work! We rode together in the morning to the slag hill, then I kept on going for 20 miles. Gotta squeeze a date in whenever you can!
Thursday, September 19th: Idaho Falls temple with Tormans + Mexican food. Josh and Meg are the funnest. Even when Allen loses the keys in the temple :).
Friday, September 13th: El Toro for dinner! Maverik cookies for dessert! Plus a drive up the canyon to get rocks for landscaping. This was my favorite date of the year. Not joking. I love eating out with my hubby and I looooooooooooooooooove getting rocks!
Saturday, September 7th: Calvin was baptized this morning! It was such a wonderful day, and all eight Coon siblings were in attendance. Ali came up the night before, with Syd and Joey, and we had a fun time with them. By the time everyone left on Saturday afternoon, we were BEAT . . . but we rallied for date night in the late evening, watching a movie together and picking at leftover huckleberry buckle.
Friday, August 30th: Cross-Country date night. We drove to Scout Mountain to watch Brigham run in his FIRST high school cross-country meet. It was brutally hot, and the course was all hills--there was not a single flat spot. Brig got 11th on the team, with a time of 20:23. He was not too happy with his time, but it was fun to watch and I know he will get better and better. After the meet, Allen and I drove to Pocatello and ate out at Winger's did a little shopping at the D.I., and then headed home after getting our Wal-Mart pick-up order. When we got home, we watched a movie on Netflix called "The Bookshop" that was so beautiful and touching and well-acted. We had another date the next morning: got up at 6AM to host the cross-country breakfast run in our backyard, which was fun...but exhausting.
Friday, August 23rd: Bike ride date! Up to the watertower, which is a STEEP bike climb, and then back again. The view was spectacular--this late summer weather could not be more perfect.
Friday, August 16th: Double date drive with Eli and Savanah. We drove around Caribou County, scouting for the places we took our family pictures the next night. Memorably, we went into the China Hat store for the first time. It was as quirky as you would expect, with that appellation. The next night, we took all the kids and snapped some great pictures. It was such a fun weekend, all around.
Monday, August 5th: Burly Burger with Ali and Brian! After a long hard day of boating with the kids, nothing sounds better than a burger and a shake.
Sunday, August 4th: Diet Coke (with the delightful Sue Rice) and a drive up the canyon to check the huckleberries. It was such a beautiful evening--I love going on drives together.
Friday, July 26th-Saturday July 27th: Dates nights are only getting better! We did an overnight trip with our besties, Troy and Brenda (whose fiftieth birthday we were celebrating), to West Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park. We ate yummy barbecue, laughed at Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, played Scrabble (darn that Troy!), and did not follow the rules in Yellowstone National Park (darn that Troy again!). We tried to support our sons (Brigham and Joe) at their Ragnar race in Grand Targhee, but arrived a little too late. Still, it was such a great weekend, and the newest best date night of the year!
Friday, July 19th: Sweet Friday night date with the mo-Tormans (see what I did there?) We brap-brapped on the gnarly trails of beautiful Caribou County till it got too dark to ride...then Meg had chocolate cake waiting for us--best date night of the year!
Friday, July 12th: All-day date where Allen totally took care of me while I rode my bike 72 miles across the Bone Road. He tuned up my bike the night before, made sandwiches, packed a cooler full of water and Gatorade and Diet Coke. Drove ahead of me five miles and stopped and waited, the entire 7.5 hour journey, shouted words of encouragement, set up a shade umbrella, took pictures and videos, and generally was superman. I trained for nine months to be able to ride those miles, and Allen has trained his whole life putting other people first. I love that guy the most.
 |
| This was my first break at mile 30, after a grueling 2-mile uphill climb. Allen set up the umbrella and cooler and snapped this picture of me resting--he's the best one. |
 |
| The fabulous Idan-ha drive-in! |
Saturday, June 15th: Biking date! 50 miles around Bear Lake! Two dates in one week? Yes, please.
Thursday, May 30th: Double date to the temple with the Tormans! And Indian food at Tandoori Oven made it magical, even though I left my phone at the D.I. and had to return to Logan and retrieve it the next day. It was such a fun (and beautiful and sunny!) evening together.
Friday, May 24th: Double Date with Ev and Kailey! They came to stay with us FOR THE FIRST TIME over Everett's birthday / Memorial Day weekend and it was so much fun. Their five little girls had me laughing all weekend long--they are all so cute and funny and naughty and delightful.
We took Ev and KK out to El Toro for Ev's birthday, then played a rousing game of Catan when we got home. Allen is, once again, Lord of Catan!
Friday, May 17th: Our first escape room date! Of course, with the Tormans, because Meg is all over planning and executing everything fun! She has been talking about it for a month and she totally made it happen. Plus, we started off RIGHT with Red Lobster!
Friday, May 10th: Pocatello Date with shopping and sushi. Allen worked FOURTEEN hours overtime this week, so we needed a real treat. I treated us to the quick and painless Wal-Mart grocery pickup before we went out for sushi at Sumisu, then to Lowe's for a bunch of spring supplies, including FLOWERS for Mother's Day. It was lovely, all around.
Thursday, May 2nd: Double date with Nick and Amanda. I hadn't cared about seeing Avenger's Endgame, but I couldn't pass up spending the evening with two of my favorites. And, it turns out, the movie was actually pretty good. I was dreading how long it was, but the time went by so fast. It was also Mollie's first babysitting gig! She watched Nick and Amanda's two girls and had a great time.
Popcorn to the rescue!
Friday, April 26th: Utah date weekend! We met Kathryn and Boyd at Cubby's for a night out without the kids. It was so fun to see them! Kathryn and I kept changing the dates, but we made it happen, and we're so glad. Date night was extra decadent when we topped off our dinner with cookies from Crumbl. I feel a combination of euphoria and guilty gluttony when I think of those sweet, softy cookies.
Allen and I spent the night at Ali and Brian's place in Ogden, and it was fun to talk with them for a while (okay, mostly Allen talked, because I CRASHED). We got up early the next morning and went to the Ogden temple. Allen and I have been doing baptisms at the temple with our kids every month, so it had been a while since we'd gone by ourselves; it was so needed and so wonderful! We did some big-city grocery shopping before driving home to our kids.
The perfect little 20-hour getaway!
Saturday, April 20th: Stake conference date! I just got home from a backpacking trip with my girlfriends, a day earlier than planned, so Allen and I were able to go to the adult session of stake conference together. It was such a good one, too! We made it date-night special by watching an episode of Alone when we got home.
Friday, April 12th: Biking Date! Allen is planning on doing my 70-mile birthday bike in July, so he joined me in my training. We rode 17 (pretty fast!) miles together then came home, grabbed dinner, and took ourselves out for cookies and soda while we watched the sunset. It was my favorite time, with my favorite guy.
Friday, April 5th: Double date with the Tormans. Dinner (El Toro) and a movie (Shazam!) is always more fun with Meg and Josh. And our movie theater has BRAND NEW SEATS--it smelled so good in there. It didn't hurt that Shazam! was hilarious and fun. If we have to see a superhero movie (and, believe me, we do, because apparently that's the only thing being made in American cinema for the past two decades), I want them all to be like this one.
Friday, March 29th: Double date with the Fransons. We had such a great time--no more going YEARS in between our double dates. We got Thai food in Lava and then went for a good soak in the hot pots (we used the last of the free passes Truman gave us--I need morrrrrrrrrrrre, Truman!) It was so fun to reconnect and visit and laugh. Our wards were reorganized at the end of February, and we are no longer in John and Julie's ward, so we have to make time to spend with two of our favorite people!
Wednesday, March 20th: Hiking Date! We were in Kanab with our kids for Spring Break, but Allen and I went running on Monday morning together, and then on a long (a little more than 2 hours) hike up Squaw Trail together on Wednesday morning. It was so pretty, and the perfect thing to do while the kids slept in at the hotel, exhausted from our adventure the day before.
Tuesday, March 12th: Election Date! I worked the supplemental school levy election all day (from 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM), and Allen picked us up some tacos from Gonzales and brought them to me for lunch. It was a much-needed break from a long (but fun, because I was with my homies) day at the polls. PS- the levy passed, and the school will soldier on with financial support from the voters of Soda Springs . . .
Wednesday, March 6th: El Toro for dinner, plus chocolate chip cookies for dessert. Technically, it wasn't a date at El Toro, because we took Calvin with us after we went to his student-led parent-teacher conference. But when we watched a movie and ate chocolate chip cookies, it WAS a date. We had a Wednesday date because I went on a sisters trip to Hebgen Lake.
I love Allen for encouraging me to get away, but mostly for making it a priority that WE get to spend time together every week.
Saturday, March 2nd: Double Date with our favesies, Troy and Brenda. We played Settlers of Catan (Allen won!) and talked late into the evening. Troy had brought his four-wheeler to our house one day and shoveled out the driveway, so I told him I'd make him a peach pie. Then I pulled a switcheroo when I saw this recipe for a Danish in a magazine, knowing that Troy has a weakness for pastry (he served his mission in Denmark and told us he gained 20 pounds eating a Danish every day).
Even though I used almost every dish I own to make this thing, it was oh-so worth it.
Monday, February 18th, 2019: Nineteenth anniversary overnight trip! Read all about it!
Friday, February 15th, 2019: Hot pools AGAIN?! Three weekends in a row? That is more than we have ever gone to Lava in an entire year. We went for three reasons: 1- Allen's hurty back, 2- It was so so so cold and snowy, and 3- Truman had work in Lava that night and the roads were so bad, we didn't want him driving his rear-wheel-drive van back, so we picked him up in Allen's truck. He met us at the hot pools after work and soaked for a bit, too (since it is free for him).
(Oh, I guess there are actually four reasons: Truman gave us 10 free passes at the end of January :). One month later, we only have two left . . .)
Friday, February 8th, 2019: Mexican food and hot pools! When it's this cold and dark and snowy, Lava Hot Springs is our favorite date destination. This time it was a double-date with Sharla and Rich, who were visiting for the weekend. We had a great time talking with them and a not-so-great time losing to Sharla (twice!) at Settlers of Catan.
Friday, February 1st, 2019: Thai food and hot pools! One of our favorite winter dates. Zesty Thai food tasted extra good after a week of cooking dinner every night.
It was so cold this Friday night that we got directly in the hottest pool and soaked for a half hour. Then we went to the least-hot pool and visited with our friends, the Monks, for a while, before ending in the hottest pool again.
Monday, January 21st, 2019: All day date! Allen had Civil Rights Day off, but the kids still had school, so we got them out the door and then we hopped in his truck and drove up to Idaho Falls, with some lasagna, Texas toast, and chocolate chip cookies for my newest niece (well, for her family). We visited my Grandpa Anderson, who is recovering from serious sickness in a care facility, and my Grandma Mollie at her house, and got to snuggle Eli and Savanah's sweet new baby, Emerson, who was only one week old.
We also shopped at D.I. with Bonnie, had lunch with Bonnie, Katie, and Mom, got to visit with my dad and learn all about "winter sowing," and took ourselves out to eat at the best Mexican restaurant I have eaten at since we lived in Texas: Morenita's.
It was, in short, the perfect day and the perfect date. We hadn't been to Idaho Falls SINCE SUMMER, so it was definitely overdue.
 |
| Emerson Afton Coon Born 7:01 PM, January 14th, 2019 7 pounds, 2 ounces, 19 inches long |
Friday, January 18th, 2019: Dinner and a movie with the Tormans! Double-dates all month long for the win! We ate out at El Toro, then went to Spiderman: Into the Spider-verse, which was pretty awesome. Oh man, I love hanging out with Josh and Meg. They just get it. And Meg makes me laugh so hard--I love her like a sister. Only I don't want her to meet my sisters, because they would trade me for her in a second.
Friday, January 11th, 2019: Sushi with the Smiths! Allen and I took Brigham to Pocatello to watch him run the 800 in the Stacey Dragila Indoor Track Open at ISU. Brigham got THIRD PLACE out of 21 middle school runners, with a time of 2:30. It was his first indoor track open, and he is excited for more.
Brandi and Jeremy Smith were also at the event, so we invited them to meet with us for sushi afterwards. I loved Brandi's response: "Ohhhhhh, I packed sandwiches for us . . . but I love sushi." We had a great time with the Smiths and I hope this is the first of many double dates to come.
 |
| Brig took this picture. So technically, with one of our kids, it wasn't a full-fledged date, but I'm still glad he was with us :) |
Friday, January 4th, 2019: Katie and Cameron came down from Idaho Falls for a fun weekend of movies, board games (I am Lady of Catan!), sledding, and snowmobiling. We got all the kids set up with movies, then took ourselves out to Mortal Engines at the Idan-ha Theater. We all enjoyed it, and it's one I would totally let my kids see (and maybe even own), though it went slightly off the rails in the last twenty minutes.
We came home and had chocolate chip cookies (for Katie and Cam) and healthy chocolate smoothies (for Allen and I, who are trying to go sugar-free until our anniversary in February). It was a great way to kick off D A T E N I G H T 2 0 1 9!
 |
| I used my iPhone to take a pic of Katie and Cam, and she used her Samsung to take one of Allen and I. Don't be hatin' on Apple, Cameron . . . 😀 |
Date night is what gets me through the week, people. It's so nice to have something that you are looking forward to, that you can dress up for, and that is a real break from the trials and tribs of every day life with teenagers.
And if the first date night of the year is a fabulous double date with your sister? Even. BETTER!
1 comment:
Ahhh! I dream (like for reals) of the day when the kids are all in school and I can enjoy the rare federal holiday that he has off and they don't! Ha! I do though. Oh I do. And it warms my heart whenever I see that stinker sister of mine make an appearance on your blog!
Post a Comment